Health & fitness retreat shares tips to maintaining weight loss goals past summer months.

The San Diego Health and Fitness Expo that will take place May 30-31 at the San Diego Convention Center highlights the healthy lifestyle that is important to many San Diego residents. San Diego health and fitness retreat VeraVia has released a series of tips that will help fitness-conscious individuals achieve their weight loss goals during the summer and maintain ongoing success throughout the rest of the year. “Summertime is a great opportunity to tone up before all those beach parties, bonfires, and barbeques,” says VeraVia Co-founder and Vice President Meslissa Chapman. “But too many people think short-term in their weight loss goals and only strive to get bikini ready at the beginning of the summer. As the summer season wears on, they use all sorts of excuses to abandon their fitness goals and healthy lifestyles, so by the time the leaves start to change, they’re right back where they started.”

Here are VeraVia’s tips for toning up for summer and maintaining a healthy physique year round.

Tip 1: Revamp your diet.
Summer is an ideal season to scale back on heavy starches, lots of carbs, or fatty meats. Instead, VeraVia recommends substituting hearty salads that are free of fatty, creamy dressings. Instead, they recommend using oil and vinegar to top a salad. Additionally, augmenting a basic green salad by adding hearty flavor-filled vegetables, protein-laden beans or bits of meat or cheese mean that those who are health-conscious can craft a filling salad and replace lunches and dinners with greens.

Tip 2: Drink water. Lots of it.
With the heat, humidity, and other steamy outdoor activities, staying hydrated is a must. “By replacing some of your daily cravings with a tall glass of water, you not only hydrate your organs (including your skin), but will also cause your body to turn to burning calories, rather than taking in new ones,” explains Chapman.

VeraVia warns: dieters should never skip meals or enter into a de facto fast. However, many cravings are less about hunger and more about habit. By replacing the desire to snack with a glass of water, dieters will be hydrating their bodies, filling their stomachs, and cutting out additional calories.

“After getting used to consuming lots of water, your body will start to signal that you’re thirsty more often, so if you’re not used to drinking so much water, your body will help you maintain your thirst well past the summer,” says Chapman.

Tip 3: Vary your workouts.
Many people lose their enthusiasm for fitness because they simply get bored with their workout. Changing one’s exercise routine will help to tone different muscle sets so the body will look more fit overall. Summertime is ideal for outdoor activities, so fitness-focused individuals can use the season as an opportunity to try various types of outdoor sports such as mountain biking, street cycling, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, jogging, swimming, beachfront yoga, rock-climbing, or surfing. During the colder months, exercisers should shift activities inside if possible (yoga, swimming, or rock-climbing), or try different indoor workouts like trampolines, weight-lifting, aerobic dancing, or pilates.

Tip 4: Keep your motivation.
VeraVia recommends posting a fit and healthy photo in a visible place throughout the year for ongoing motivation. “Take the best picture of you from this summer (or a summertime past) and paste it onto your refrigerator or your bulletin board,” says Chapman. “Seeing yourself smiling and fit and happy can provide you with real, lasting motivation to keep your healthier lifestyle going into the fall and winter. When you can visibly see what your end goal is–whether it’s to achieve a certain weight or dress size, or to maintain the strides you’ve already made–making it real by seeing yourself as you’d like to look keeps you on track and plants a visual in your mind toward which you can continue to strive.”

VeraVia reminds dieters that their summertime body does not need to vanish at Labor Day. By tweaking one’s diet, trying new workout activities, and achieving ongoing motivation, fitness enthusiasts can maintain a healthy physique throughout the summer and beyond.

– Courtesy of PRWeb